


Lila as the architect of her own defeat

by AllTheCatsJoinIn



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Salt, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Jealous Lila Rossi, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila salt, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, adrienette - Freeform, post new york special
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:56:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28813047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTheCatsJoinIn/pseuds/AllTheCatsJoinIn
Summary: Lila is still gunning for Marinette, though she is now using her classmates to do her dirty work.  Will she destroy Marinette's friendship with Adrien, or has she made a tactical error?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 21
Kudos: 530





	Lila as the architect of her own defeat

The day started off like any other, just with an extra dose of her patented Marinette bad luck. She scooted out the door already five minutes late for school, croissant stuffed in her mouth, and tripped just as she reached the other side of the street, spewing her breakfast all over the sidewalk. Sighing, she sprinted the rest of the way, falling twice more and scuffing the knees of her favorite pink jeans. Sneaking into class, she almost made it to her seat before she unexpectedly sneezed extra loudly and alerted the teacher to her presence, earning a detention for her tardiness. The only recompense was Adrien turning around to give her a sympathetic glance, his kind green eyes crinkled in a smile that had her floating through the next two periods. 

Nino was absent, which was really unfortunate because Lila used it as an excuse to come sit next to Adrien. Marinette had to watch her slowly encroaching on Adrien’s personal space all morning, which made her grateful she hadn’t eaten anything. At break, she sat by herself so she wouldn’t have to join the rest of the class listening to Lila’s latest ridiculous story about her fake life. After a few minutes, Adrien came and joined her, pulling out his history text, and Marinette’s heart lit up. She couldn’t actually force any words out past the sudden constriction in her throat, but she was so happy just being next to him! The light but potent cologne he normally wore wrapped around her, teasing her senses and tantalizing her with his nearness, and she basked in the slight warmth from his body where their thighs almost touched. Unfortunately, Lila noticed, and soon came over to snag Adrien’s attention, demanding that he help her tell everyone about their latest photoshoot. Marinette went to use the bathroom, worried that she would say something unkind if she stayed, but she saw Lila’s brief smirk as she left.

At lunch, Alya invited her to go join the crowd around Lila, so she suddenly ‘remembered’ she needed to go home and help her parents. As she was leaving, she bumped into Adrien, who was hesitating on his way into the cafeteria. Reluctance was stamped on his face as he noticed their classmates sitting with Lila, and in a rare moment of bravery, Marinette realized she could help him.

“A-a-a-Adrien, w-w-would you l-l-l-like home go l-l-l-l-lunch to me with? I-I-I mean, h-h-h-have me for lunch? Argh, no, I mean, h-h-h-have lunch me with? With me? At the b-b-b-bakery!”

Adrien smiled kindly at her, sadly used to her word salads, and nodded enthusiastically. “Sure Marinette; that would be great!”

She smiled and he grabbed her hand to turn them away. She tripped, surprised by the sudden contact and the spark that sprang from his touch up her arm, and he caught her. Grinning, he pulled her arm through his and promised, “Don’t worry, Marinette, I’ve got you.”

Her face was now tomato red, but she was on cloud nine as Adrien gallantly escorted her out of the cafeteria on his arm. Neither of them noticed the evil glare they were receiving from a certain classmate holding court behind them.

Marinette knew she shouldn’t read too much into this. Adrien and Kagami weren’t officially dating yet, but they’d been seen together more than once and Marinette knew Adrien was interested in Kagami romantically. She was trying to get over her obsessive crush, but it was so difficult when he was just so amazing, and moments like this really didn’t help. She couldn’t stop herself though, when she saw Adrien unhappy her first instinct was to do anything she could to make him feel better.

Luckily her parents weren’t too embarrassing when she walked through the door with the boy she was still crushing on in spite of herself – mostly because they were busy and her dad was stuck in the back working on an order. Thankfully her mom was a little more discrete, just grinning really widely and putting a little extra suggestion in her voice to have fun as she motioned them upstairs. 

Marinette quickly slapped together some sandwiches on croissants with an orange and a side salad for each of them, pulling out some macaroons from the jar for desert. Adrien smiled as he sat down across from her, sending her heart into overdrive. They made small talk about school and video games while they ate, Marinette growing more comfortable and flubbing fewer of her words as Adrien talked and joked to put her at ease. She found that as long as she didn’t look directly at him, it was easier to focus and she could speak almost normally, even teasing him back a few times.

When they were finished, they still had a few minutes, and Adrien asked if they could play video games in Marinette’s room. She blushed, but nodded, grateful that she’d finally taken down most of his posters a few weeks after they got back from the class New York trip. Adrien spent a minute looking at her redecorated walls and complimenting her on how nice her room looked. 

“Why the change?” he asked curiously, blinking innocently at her.

“Well,” she replied blushing, “Now that you’re interested in Kagami I just thought… it might be a little inappropriate to have so many pictures of you up in my room. She’s my friend, too, and I wouldn’t want to do something to make either of you uncomfortable.”

Adrien smiled kindly at her and said, “I didn’t mind that you like my work, but thanks, Marinette. You’re such a thoughtful friend. Kagami and I are lucky to have you.”

Marinette smiled while another small piece of her heart chipped away.

“We’re not, you know, actually dating or anything,” Adrien added a moment later while they were waiting for the game to load, reaching to rub the back of his neck awkwardly.

Marinette turned to frown at him, though she tried to temper her expression to something gentle and ignore the slight traitorous leap of her heart. “Why not? She’s made it pretty clear to everyone that she really likes you, and you told me you like her.”

Adrien shrugged, blushing a little and glancing down. “Well… There’s someone else I’ve been trying to get over for a while. I know she doesn’t like me back so I’ve been trying to move on. Kagami seemed like… a safe choice, someone I like and I know won’t reject me. It’s nice to be with someone like that, but… I just… I think it’s okay to spend time with her and enjoy her company and even flirt, but I don’t want to make anything official until I’m really over this other girl. It wouldn’t be fair to Kagami.”

Marinette stared at him for a moment and then asked, morbidly curious, “Who is the other girl?”

Adrien blushed red this time, twisting so she couldn’t see his face. “I can’t really say. It’s… she’s kind of a celebrity, which makes me sound shallow, but it’s not. My feelings, that is, they aren’t shallow. She’s just so amazing, brave, smart, kind, and creative… She’s my friend, but she’s never seen me like that.”

Marinette frowned, wondering why this was the first she’d heard about this. Nino hadn’t ever mentioned anything to her about Adrien’s feelings, other than that he really, really liked Ladybug. Wait…

“Ladybug?” she asked breathlessly. “Are you talking about Ladybug?”

Adrien didn’t say anything right away, but the darkening flush she could see on his ears and the back of his neck was its own answer. Before she could formulate any kind of a response or wonder why Adrien was referring to Ladybug as a friend, her trap door slammed open. Seven of her classmates piled into her room, shocking her with a sudden explosion of angry sound.

Kim and Max grabbed Adrien and started trying to hustle him out while Alya got right in her face. “Girl, what are you doing? You can’t stalk Adrien like this, it’s not healthy!”

Marinette darted a shocked glance around her room, Kim and Max trying to force Adrien over to her trapdoor, while Rose, Juleka, and Mylène crowded around Lila in an angry defensive circle.

“Alya,” Adrien demanded, throwing off Kim and Max with surprising ease to come put a hand on Alya’s shoulder and back her away from Marinette, “What are you doing?”

“She tricked you into coming home with her!” Alya shouted outraged, while Marinette just sat there with her mouth open, feeling blindsided as tears started to burn her eyes. 

“Alya, I don’t know what ridiculous story Lila told you, but I invited Adrien to come back to my house for lunch, and he agreed. I didn’t trick him.”

Alya scowled, “Oh really? Why else would he ditch poor Lila like that? You know he was supposed to eat lunch with her. I can’t believe you’d do that to her, girl. You were supposed to be keeping your distance and moving on, not trying to get closer to him again! You promised you were done with this stalker shit!”

Marinette’s mouth was now hanging open as she glanced desperately between her former friend, her crush, and her enemy, her face growing redder by the second. Adrien frowned at Alya, not understanding, but realized he needed to stop Alya before she said something really hurtful. His good, sweet friend Marinette did not deserve to be treated like this.

“Alya, that’s enough. Marinette isn’t my stalker, geez, we just started becoming better friends. She hated me until recently. Why would you even say that?”

Marinette frowned, looking at Adrien, but before she could say anything Alya’s strident voice interrupted. “God, are you really that oblivious, Sunshine? Marinette has been obsessed with you since like a day after you met. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve listened to her rant about how much she likes you, and how she wants to tell you and ask you out, but she just can’t. Every time she tried, something would go wrong. It was sad and unhealthy.”

“You like me?” Adrien whispered, head whipping around to stare at Marinette. 

“Girl, I thought you were past this!” Alya continued, not allowing Adrien or Marinette to speak. “We took down the pictures!”

“You had those pictures on your wall because you liked me?” Adrien asked quietly, still staring at Marinette. She nodded sadly, but before she could say anything Alya interrupted again.

“Sunshine, no one has that many pictures of a hot guy on their walls unless they like the guy.”

Adrien blushed and Marinette shrugged helplessly, more tears gathering in her eyes. Adrien frowned, then offered, “I have Ladybug posters in my closet. I’d put them up in my room, too, but my father won’t let me.”

Alya frowned at his strange comment, but continued ruthlessly. “You got rid of your computer wallpaper.”

Adrien cocked an eyebrow at Marinette and commented, apparently randomly, “My wallpaper is a picture of Ladybug.” Alya frowned but Marinette smiled a little, sitting up a bit straighter.

Before she could respond, Alya pulled down Marinette’s calendar and pointed to the erase markers still visible on the current month. “You got rid of his schedule.”

Adrien quirked an eyebrow at Alya and asked, “Why does knowing my schedule make her a stalker? She has events for most of the class on there. She has all your and Nino’s activities, too. Besides, we’re friends. I’m glad she knows my schedule, it means she likes me enough to want to know what I’m up to. That doesn’t make her a stalker.” He pointed to time blocked out for Kitty Section rehearsals, Kim’s next swim meet, Alix’s upcoming roller derby event, Max’s next gaming tournament, and Nino and Alya’s next date.

“You still have an entire trunk full of presents for him that you need to get rid of!”

At that, Adrien’s mouth dropped open and he stared at Marinette. “You have presents for me?” he asked, dumbfounded. Marinette nodded. Alya shook her head and added, “Years’ worth. Like, I can’t even calculate how many hours she’s spent making you presents since she met you.”

A tear slid down Adrien’s face as a huge smile spread across it. “You made me presents?” he asked again, beaming at Marinette. She nodded shyly, smiling back. “Alya’s right, though, it’s a little weird how many presents I’ve made you. I just… keep thinking of things you’d like, or things that would look good on you, and then I want to make them.”

Adrien grinned and reached around Alya, grabbing Marinette’s hands. He pulled her to him, then picked her up and whirled her around, laughing. He put her down and stared at her, eyes still wet, and smiled. “That is so nice, Mari,” he said earnestly. “You have no idea what that means to me. Most of the time my father just gets me a pen. The only time he’s ever done something personal for me was when he got me that scarf for my birthday.”

Alya snorted and said, “Yeah, that blue scarf wasn’t from him, it was from Marinette.”

That was apparently the last straw for Marinette, who turned to Alya and admonished fiercely, “Alya! That is enough!”

Unfortunately, the damage was done, and Adrien was staring at her with a crushed expression. “I’m sorry Adrien,” Marinette said. “I saw how much that meant to you, and I wasn’t going to tell you.”

“But how?” he asked, confused.

Marinette shrugged. “I don’t know. I dropped it off during lunch, and then the next day you showed up wearing it saying it was from your dad. I guess maybe I forgot to sign the card, or maybe the note fell off. You seemed really happy, so I decided not to say anything. I… I wasn’t sure if it was wrong, but I figured there was no harm in it, and I loved seeing you smile.”

Adrien stared at her with something new and soft in his eyes. “Marinette…”

Marinette stared back with her heart in her mouth, wondering at his expression, which suddenly reminded her a little of how Chat had stared at her whenever he was about to confess his love.

Adrien took a breath and then said quietly, “I chose to ask out Kagami because I thought you didn’t like me. You were always so nervous around me, and you ran away a lot... I really thought you weren’t interested. If I’d known how you really felt… I would have asked you instead. I really, really like you. You’re amazing, so kind, and beautiful, and creative, and… I’d love to take you out for ice cream and see if we could be more than friends.”

Marinette was staring at Adrien with hearts in her swimming blue eyes as a huge smile slowly took over her entire face. “Yes,” she breathed, squeezing his hands since he was still holding hers. “Yes, I’d love to.”

Alya frowned, now looking confused. “Adrien, aren’t you dating Kagami?”

Adrien shook his head, still staring at Marinette. “No,” he said briefly, not looking at Alya.

“But I thought that was your cover story so your father didn’t find out that you’re in love with Lila, since you can’t date and model with her.”

Adrien let out a single bark of incredulous laughter at that. “I am not in love with Lila, and I’m not dating anyone at the moment. I went out a few times with Kagami to explore whether we could be more than friends, but we haven’t even kissed yet because I wasn’t sure about dating her.”

Alya stared with a frown between Adrien and Lila, who took this opportunity to shed a few crocodile tears. “Adrien, you don’t have to lie about us. Marinette knows she was in the wrong, and she’s working to get over her sick obsession with you. You don’t have to lie just to keep her from being Akumatized.”

Adrien frowned at Lila and responded, “There’s nothing wrong with Marinette. She’s wonderful, just the way she is. You are the one who needs to stop lying.”

Lila sneered and insisted, “Adrien, you just aren’t seeing her clearly because no one will tell you the truth. They’re all trying to protect her. Marinette is a psycho, she’s totally obsessed with you. She has a wedding binder for the two of you.”

Adrien paused but then chuckled, tugging gently at Marinette’s chin so she’d look at him. “Spring or Autumn?” he asked, a teasing note in his voice. Marinette smiled hesitantly back and said, “Spring, of course.”

“A pink dress?” he asked. She nodded, smiling slightly wider, and he added, “I’m sure you’ll look stunning. Let’s maybe table the rest of that discussion until after our first kiss, though.”

Marinette giggled, blushing. “I tend to get a little ahead of myself.”

“I know,” Adrien responded. “I figured that out when you showed me the designs for Kitty’s Section’s costumes for their second world tour. It’s one of the things I admire about you. I’m not great at envisioning the future; I envy you the ability to dream so far ahead. And I love how you don’t do anything halfway.”

Lila rolled her eyes in disgust and hissed, “She has names picked out for your three kids! I’m telling you, she is not normal!”

Adrien gasped and looked back down at Marinette, who was staring at the floor again. “Really?” he breathed.

Something in his voice made her look up, and she melted when she saw his eyes, smiling softly. “Hugo, Louis, and Emma,” she said gently. Adrien laughed, a rich unedited sound few of his classmates had heard before, and hugged her again.

“I’ve always wanted a big family too,” he said, smiling gently. “I never really thought about names… but I think it would be nice if I had a daughter to name her after my mom.”

Marinette smiled at Adrien and responded quietly, “Emilie is a beautiful name.”

They shared a moment, eyes shining and hands clasped, and everyone around them stared awing and cooing as they began to realize how much Adrien actually liked Marinette. Rose, Juleka, and Mylène shared a small smile. Kim and Max shared an awkward glance and shuffled, seeming to realize they’d been out of line. They offered an apology and left quickly, with the girls following behind them after also apologizing.

Alya was still staring between Adrien and Marinette, a furrow of confusion on her brows. “So… you really don’t love Lila?” she asked slowly.

“No, Alya, I _really_ don’t,” Adrien reiterated, frowning at her. Alya backed away towards the trapdoor, glancing between Lila, Adrien and Marinette, before her eyes suddenly flooded with tears. “I’m sorry Marinette!” she sobbed. Marinette frowned, reaching out a hand, but Alya fled before she could say anything.

Adrien and Marinette looked up in tandem to glare fiercely at Lila. “Lila,” Marinette stated strongly, “You need to leave.”

Lila ignored her and focused on Adrien. “Adrien, you cannot actually love this basket case! She’s just a stalker, I swear! She’s pathetic, she’s been following you around trying to tell you that she loves you for _years_! You can’t possibly want to be with her, you deserve someone so much better! All she does is stare at you half the time in class, she has pictures of you doodled all over her notebooks. Besides, she’s so weird… she’s flaky, she’s never where she’s supposed to be, she disappears a lot, and she is always talking to her purse. It’s totally creepy.”

Adrien stared at Marinette, blond eyebrows creeping slowly up towards his hairline, as she started to blush in mortification. After a moment, his eyes lit up and his mouth expanded into a Cheshire grin that made Marinette start violently. “Why, Mari,” he purred, “that is paw-sitively claw-ful!”

Marinette gazed at Adrien while her heart leapt into her throat. His voice saying those puns, and that astonishingly familiar expression on his face… 

“No…” she whispered, tears burning her eyes. Adrien’s expression crumpled as he noticed her swimming eyes, and she quickly went to him and took his hands, cupping one hand to his cheek. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, suddenly looking more hopeful.

“I’d love to go on that date,” Marinette whispered to him, forcing the words out around the lump in her throat. “It seems like we have a lot to talk about.”

He smiled at her softly with hearts in his eyes. Before he could reply, though, Lila screamed. “No! Adrien, you cannot date her! I’m going to tell your father! He definitely won’t let you go out with that pitiful excuse of a girl instead of me!”

Adrien snarled, head whipping towards Lila with a startlingly ferocious expression on his face suddenly. He looked back at Marinette and gave her hands a soft squeeze before letting go. Stalking over to Lila, he grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the trapdoor, motioning her to climb down. She did, and he followed, sending one comforting glance back towards Marinette before shutting the door.

A few minutes later, he came back, and promised, “Don’t worry, Mari, she won’t be bothering us again.”

Marinette blinked and frowned at him. “What did you do?”

Adrien’s face morphed into a familiar gleeful expression that caused a pang in her chest. “After she got you expelled and I had to bribe her to lie you back into school, I started digging up dirt on her, just in case. I have proof that she wasn’t traveling out of the country the first few months of school, which I could use to get her held back a year. There are a few other things too, but that was the big one. I just told her that unless she leaves you and me completely alone from now on and stops talking to my father about us, I’ll get her held back, and I’ll make sure she never models again. I also told her I’d let her mother know how much school she’s skipped and some of the things she’s been up to this year.”

Marinette laughed incredulously, tears in her eyes. “You really are my hero, kitty.”

Adrien smiled gently at her and responded, “Well, you’re mine, Milady.”

Marinette laughed and hugged him. Tikki flew out of her purse and waved, waiting for Plagg. He phased out of Adrien’s shirt, and they flew up to the loft bed, chirping softly to each other. Adrien reached down and tilted her chin up so he could gaze into her big blue eyes.

“Milady, I love you. Will you go out with me?” he asked hopefully.

“ _Yes_!” Marinette shouted, surprising them both into laughing. “Yes,” she said quieter, “I’d love to go out with you. I love you, too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't get me wrong, I actually love Alya (I have a whole other fic I'm working on where she totally redeems herself and is the best friend ever). However, there are some things in the show about her that really do bug me, and when I was thinking about a Lila take-down with some Adrienette fluff, well... this is one scenario that sprang to mind.


End file.
